How to succeed with jade cutting?

robinpla(10b)November 15, 2012

Discovered a thread about fat jade cuttings and the many failures in getting them to root and grow. I got really excited about this and looked for a fat cutting on eBay myself, but couldn't find one. Oddly, maybe guided by some gardening deity, that same day I discovered an enormously fat jade plant in my yard (after living in this house for 6 years). How is that possible? It's growing inside a cypress and I have only seen the green part of the jade. I have never liked the jade where it grows, but with JADE on my mind I took a closer look at the trunk.

So, down to business :)

How would you go about getting a fat piece of jade to grow in a pot? What's the easiest way to succeed? Trying to get the roots up? Or trying to root a piece of the trunk? Or cut it above ground with leaves and try to get that to root? Or air layering? Many options, but what would you do??

This limb of Crassula ovata 'Gollum', dubbed Ol Stumpy, taken from my former garden, rooted in about a year - how did that happen?

The soil was very porous, it got no water in the soil (only 3x a week-or-so mistings) and I kept it warm (inside for the winter, outside for the summer) in mostly direct sun.

IMO, that thread you mention reading is a great source of information. But the biggest bit is never to buy from a fraud, which he clearly was and was only known after more than a few folks were rudely disappointed with his product, advice on rooting and service. C'est la Ebay.

robinpla, I have three very large jade stumps that I rooted with no problems. Thanks to cactusncharris above who helped with directions on rooting the first one. I recently rooted two more not too long ago. My stumps are quite large, about 20 inches tall and they had no leaves when I started rooting them. I found all three on eBay from a seller in California. I placed all three in porous soil after letting the cuts heal for a couple of weeks. All I did was mist the stumps regularly until I saw new growth and then I started watering a little. It took two to three months before I saw new growth. In your case it would be great if you could dig out your stump with roots on it. Don't be afraid to root if you have to. All it takes is patience. These are the last two that I rooted. Mike

Thought the stubs where just to fat to develop any root in March 2012 regardless of the amount of Ebay help or forum help. If any lesson: High ambitious adding some of the best efforts wont always succeed.

Before cutting the now mentioned tree exposed FAT JADE by cutting it at it's widest part of trunk I beg you to consider conservation first and greed last it has been growing there for a while.

Took another peek at the jade today. It's a little damp outside and the cypress is dirty, so I didn't want to dig around too much. But I pushed some branches aside and took this attached picture. The trunk is not as massive as I remember it two days ago, haha, but still pretty fat. There are numerous trunks emanating from the ground. The fattest trunk goes through a fence and is possibly even fatter beyond what I could see today.

This plant is not for conservation. It's ugly and is growing through a fence and inside a cypress. I have barely noticed it where it grows and I am out gardening there quite often, so getting it out of there would give it some prominence. Greed? I'd say crazy scientist :) It would probably keep growing even if I chopped it down close to the ground.

When I have time I will collect some cuttings and post some pictures. I am confident in rooting them with your help and what I have been reading.

I see so much lateral and horizontal rooting in your future, I'm here to tell you.

And yes, if you think it's fat, it's fatter than that. And it would continue to grow even if chopped.

Do you want all of it out of there or are you going to leave some limbs? Everything I see is viable, but some are more aesthetically pleasing than others. I have thrown away hundreds of pounds of C. o. shrubberies, and you might too, lessen someone sending you postage for limbs.

I have to take a picture of a jade in my neighborhood that I have been eyeing. Would be very sad if it was disposed of one day without me knowing about it :)

Not sure yet how to proceed with my jade. I saw that the fattest part is on my neighbor's side of the fence. They couldn't care less about me taking it, but we're not all that chummy with each other. Maybe I offer

I will probably take one chunk of the top part of the plant and experiment on that, before I move down the fatter parts of the jade.

Aloe arborescens coming into flower right on time. Well, one way of warming that wall of chill is to offer them a cutting of their own plant? Be careful of those two Euphorbias (the columnar beast and its stick-branched cousin) - their sap can be an irritant or worse. And that's how Crassula grows in SouCal, until it can grow no more, so you'll see (now you know what to look for) plants growing into wooden and chain-link fences, pushing out other plants.

My neighbors are hasidic Jews and have very different priorities in life than me. Their yard is a dirt pit, their house is falling apart. I highly doubt they would be interested in rooting jade plants, haha LOL. Maybe I offer to plant a new plant where the jade will have grown.

Yes this aloe has been growing there for a few years, first time flowering. Just noticed it when I took this picture. Someone told me it is a "chocolate aloe", not sure if he made that up or not.

I have chopped up and rooted many large jades that were growing in inopportune locations. I recommend using an antifungal on large cut surfaces. I use powdered sulfur, but a lot of people around here use cinnamon. Then make sure that the ends callus over before potting. Some people just pot into dry medium but I like to keep an eye on the callus. Also, don't just worry about the cut end that goes in the ground. I have had rot start at the cut end at the top of the stump because of water getting stuck in cracks. I haven't had that problem since I started dusting and cutting the top at a bit of an angle for drainage though.

Yes, they do, don't they? Well, as long as you don't shake hands with the gentleman, just hand him the jade cutting, things will be okey-dokey, I hope.

Nil brings up a good point. The sulfur powder / flowers of sulfur can be had at a compounding pharmacist's. Another thing to use can be Rootone or another rooting hormone which also has anti-fungal properties.

I have rootone and cinnamon :), but I use a liquid called physan 20 for my plants. Anti fungal, anti viral, and anti bacterial liquid. I might just dip the whole cutting in a solution of physan to get rid of anything pesky.

I will take a cutting next Tuesday when I have nanny help here. Until then I am BUSY! :)

The bulb pan style terra cotta pots have worked out very well for me. I actually used terra cotta saucers for large pots and a couple of red bricks on each side of the stump to hold it up. I would say I used about 1 2/2 to 2 inches of porous mix.

Mi_co, it sounds like you just put your cuttings on the surface of the porous mix. Is that correct? Or should I bury it an inch or so? Is it a crazy idea to lay it down sideways to get a massively fat "caudex" style jade??

Robin, Yes, mine were placed down into the soil. About 2 inches of soil came up around the sides of the stump. As Jeff said above it doesn't matter. I find it amazing that if a large piece broke off a plant and fell flat to the ground it would just about root all along the piece. I bet it would be interesting to root a stump laying flat but I don't think I would like it because I prefer my jades in a tree form. It would make for a very unique plant though. Mike

Robin, I'm not sure what cut part you're talking about. Are you talking about where branches were cut back at the top of the stumps or on the sides of the stump ? My cuts are visible but at the top you can hardly see them because of the new branches growing. On the sides of my stumps you can see where branches were cut off. They formed a skin if you want to call it that but the color is lighter than the rest of the stump. The color may darken as time goes on. Mike